The Reality of the Person of the Holy Spirit

Rodney M. Howard-Browne

Contents

1    Recognizing the Holy Spirit

2    The Comforter Has Come

3    Divers Manifestations

4    "Noised Abroad"

5    Turning the Holy Ghost Loose

Sermon Outline:

Chapter 1

Recognizing the Holy Spirit

One of the greatest problems in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ today is that God's people do not have a greater revelation of the reality of the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Because of this, much of the ministry that is being done is in the flesh; much of the worship that is being done is in the flesh; and much of the preaching that is being done is in the flesh.

To worship without the Holy Spirit is a waste of time; to pray without Him is a waste of time; and to read the Bible without Him is a waste of time. In fact, to do anything before God without the Person of the Holy Spirit is nothing more than dead works!

How easy it is to fall into a trap, thinking we must follow certain man-made rituals or traditions. We go about our daily schedule doing all the things that are right in the eyes of man, but we do not invite the Holy Spirit to pray with us, counsel us, lead and guide us, and conform us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God's precious people desire to be used of Him, but they do not realize that Jesus promised to send the Comforter to help them do this.

Unless they get a revelation of the reality of the Person of the Holy Spirit, they will wander aimlessly through life, attempting to serve God in the flesh. They will try to walk in victory and authority, and they will try to see the supernatural occur in their daily lives; yet they will fall short every time—because they do not acknowledge the Person of the Holy Spirit.

The Unknown Member of the Godhead

While crisscrossing the United States, preaching in large and small churches of many denominations in 32 states, I have come to this conclusion: Most Christians do not know the Person of the Holy Spirit. And they wouldn't know Him if He walked down the aisle of the church wearing a cowboy hat and two six-guns!

This is what happens in churches and great conventions all the time: People come and sing and worship and clap and shout. Then the preacher gets up and preaches his heart out. They get to the end of the service, and the Holy Spirit is there—and they close the meeting, and everyone goes home!

I've watched as thousands of people have come forward, hungry for a touch of God, because the leaders said, "the Holy Spirit is here"—but nothing happened.

What went wrong? They welcomed the Holy Spirit to come, and the moment He began to move, they closed the meeting to save embarrassment to themselves, and they sent Him away instead of taking the time to wait upon Him.

We as the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ must come to the place where we have a greater dependency upon the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. We must begin to do what the Holy Ghost wants to do, not what we want to do. We must get together every time there is a meeting, wait upon Him, and follow His plan for the meeting.

One Wrong Song

Did you know that singing just one wrong song can throw a damper on the meeting? I've been in churches where they got up and started to sing "Silent Night", for example, simply because they felt they had to follow their program.

"Silent Night" was the allocated song for that service, even though it was inappropriate at that particular time and kept the Spirit of God from moving. People do these things because they do not understand that the Holy Spirit is a Person.

One of the things to understand about the Holy Spirit is, when He comes, He comes with power! When He comes, signs and wonders begin to happen. Isn't it amazing that many denominations and church groups say that the Holy Spirit is present in their services, yet nothing tangible can be seen?

I ask you with tears in my eyes, how can the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead—God Himself— come into a meeting and nothing happen?

I think some preachers are afraid of a meeting getting out of control. They are afraid if the Holy Spirit showed up and took over, they might lose their ministry!

But I want you to know that the Holy Spirit will not be dictated to by man! He is a Person. He is God Almighty! He will not be dictated to by any deacon board, elder board, board of directors, or any other board that's bored. He will not be told what to do or how to do it.

If He does not show up in our meetings, irrespective of who the preacher is, we are wasting our time playing church and being religious, and no one will receive anything from God.

However, when He does start to move, there will be a wonderful, mighty, glorious outpouring of the Spirit. People will be healed, their hearts will be touched, and their lives will be turned around. In fact, more people will be touched by God in two seconds than any preacher could do in five years of hard work.

We must learn to yield ourselves to flow with the Holy Ghost when He moves in meetings.

Jesus Promises the Comforter

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

John 14:16,17

Jesus said this to His disciples while He was still living on this earth. Jesus said He was going to pray to His Father in heaven. We know that the Holy Spirit was also in heaven with the Father.

At that time, the Holy Spirit did not indwell God's people. Under the Old Covenant, God anointed only three groups of people: prophets, priests, and kings. Everyone else was on the outside, looking in.

But it wasn't always this way. When Adam and Eve fell and transgressed, the Spirit of God left them, and the glory of God departed from them. No longer could they walk and fellowship with God in the cool of the day. Now they were banished outside the garden—driven out. Now they had to wear the skins of animals, for the glory cloud of God, which used to clothe them, had lifted, and now they knew they were naked.

Under the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit dwelled in an earthly tabernacle made with the hands of man, but not in man himself. There were strict laws governing this tabernacle. One young man got so familiar with that anointing that he put his hand on the ark to steady it while it was being moved, and he dropped dead!

How fearful it must have been to have been a priest in those days! They tied a rope to the High Priest when he entered the Holy of Holies once a year, and he wore little bells on his garments. If the bells stopped tinkling, they knew God had found sin in his life, and they pulled his dead body out with the rope. The Old Covenant was insufficient. God wanted to come and indwell men. He wanted to get us back to the place of fellowship Adam and Eve had enjoyed. That's why Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit is with you, but He shall be in you." He was speaking of the New Birth.

The Temple of the Living God

We know that when Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the Temple was torn in two, from the top to the bottom, signifying that the Holy Spirit came out of that earthly tabernacle to indwell believers—and we became the temple of the living God! God wants to make His home inside of us. Our body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit!

This is another promise Jesus made about the Holy Spirit:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

John 14:26

Jesus is referring here to the Godhead. We see that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not the Father, and so forth, but there are three, and they are One.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Acts 10:38

Don't try to work it out or understand with your little pea brain how God can be three in One and One in three. Just realize that God is God and you are you. God is the Creator and you are a creation.

Chapter 2

The Comforter Has Come

The Person of the Holy Spirit is here on the earth today!

If you don't come into the reality of this revelation, you will never know the power of God in your ministry. You can't have a revival without Him.

You can preach and teach your heart out, but you will never see the glory of God manifested unless the Person of the Holy Spirit comes into your meeting and you give Him free rein to move by His mighty power.

There is a difference, however, between the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent (everywhere), but He is not manifest everywhere.

Jesus Teaches About the Comforter

Jesus knew He was going to be with the Father, and that's why He had to send the Holy Spirit. Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit:

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the

Father, he shall testify of me.

John 15:26

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

John 16:7-15

Nevertheless, even after all this instruction from Jesus, the disciples didn't know who the Holy Spirit was. Jesus told them to tarry in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come, but they didn't know what they were looking for! However, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came with the sound of a mighty, rushing wind and the manifestation of fire, which sat upon each of them, and suddenly they knew, "He's here! He's here!"

A Revival Greater Than Pentecost

The sad thing is, believers today still don't know who the Holy Spirit is, nor do they understand how He works—but they will soon have a greater revelation of Him, because we're on the brink of a greater outpouring than the Day of Pentecost!

A great, new, wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of God is about to take place! It will be even greater, because we're not starting this dispensation; we're wrapping it up!

The wind of the Holy Ghost will come in this day and hour and will blow upon the dry bones of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can these bones live again? Yes, with the mighty wind of the Spirit of God that will come in this day and hour, these bones can live again.

Winds of revival are beginning to blow from the North, the South, the East, and the West into many different denominations and groups.

The Holy Spirit is not a respecter of persons; He comes to those who are hungry and say, "O God, we would seek your face. We would see your glory. Come and breathe upon us. Let your fire fall upon me, O God! Let your Spirit burn within my heart. Bring about a change in my life."

The glory of God will not fall only on 120 people, as it did in the Upper Room; it will fall upon millions and millions of people! God will breathe upon the blood-bought Church—the called-out ones—and they will rise up and go forth like a mighty army.

God wants to prepare His Church for this end-time revival. How can we prepare ourselves for revival? We must get our hearts right by repenting of any sin in our lives and humbling ourselves under His mighty hand.

When we open our hearts and yield to the Holy Spirit like this, the glory of God will come, and true manifestations of the Holy Spirit will be present in our meetings.

We must learn to recognize the anointing of the Spirit of God and begin to flow with Him. We can know when He's in a meeting and when He's not. When His anointing is not there, don't try to make something happen, because if you do, you mock and grieve Him!

More Than Tongues

The moment you mention the Holy Spirit to some

Pentecostals, they say, "Oh, yes. We talk in tongues." But the Holy Spirit is not tongues!

Jesus did not promise His disciples in Acts 1:8, "You shall receive tongues after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." He said, "You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me.... "

Notice that power is the first thing that will happen to you after you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The problem with the Church today is, we've got a lot of Christians babbling in tongues who have no power in their lives.

I look for power as the evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, not just tongues. I want to see that Spirit-filled believer walk up to a demon-possessed person and say, "Come out, in Jesus' Name!" I want to see that believer pray for a sick person and say, "Rise and be healed, in Jesus' Name!"

Then that verse says, "...ye shall be witnesses unto me." That's the second thing that will happen: You won't be able to keep your mouth shut! You'll be telling the story of the Gospel everywhere you go—morning, noon, and night You'll be a witness with power. What more could the Church want?

I believe in tongues and speak in tongues, but don't tell me the Holy Spirit is tongues, because He's not a language; He's a Person. He's not an experience; He's

God! In fact, tongues is not even one of the nine gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12.

Divers Tongues

The reason we don't see the true manifestation of divers tongues, which is listed in 1 Corinthians 12:10, in a meeting is because people get up and speak in their prayer language.

A prayer language is meant for personal use and is meant to edify the individual, not the Body of Christ.

Public or divers tongues is as the Holy Spirit wills, not as the individual wills. It is addressed to the Body of Christ for edification, exhortation, and comfort. There's a big difference.

The Holy Spirit is more than a language; He's the Third Person of the Godhead. And when He manifests His power, there is no telling what will take place!

"Teaching" Tongues

Unfortunately, some have taken tongues and twisted them into all kinds of strange things. I've even heard of churches where the preacher "taught" people to speak in tongues. How dumb can you get and still breathe?

The preacher told people, "Just say this after me: 'Rondi, shondi, tie my bowtie.' That's it, brother—you've got it!"

So the brother goes away saying, "Rondi, shondi, tie my bowtie." After three months, the poor man thinks, "Is this all there is to tongues? What's the big deal?"

So he goes back to the preacher. "Preacher, I've just got a few words: 'Rondi, shondi, tie my bowtie.' What should I do?"

The preacher says, "Ah, brother, just add the word 'hondi' to the end of it."

And the poor man goes away believing he's been baptized in the Holy Spirit. He has reduced the Holy Spirit to a language. No wonder people of other churches have looked at some of the people who claim to have been filled with the Holy Spirit and said, "These guys are whacked out of their tree."

Problems With Intercession and Warfare

Then there are those who have gotten off in the area of intercession. Intercession should be as you yield yourself to God and He prays through you in His own will and purpose—not as you try to go into groanings in the flesh, without any anointing.

I've walked into a room and seen minsters wailing like a bunch of cats and dogs. I asked, "What's going on here?" "We're interceding."

"Lord, have mercy. I thought you were dying!"

There was no anointing. I could have produced an even better effect by holding a cat under my arm and squeezing the thing's neck.

Then there are those who say you use tongues to fight the devil. You will not find Scripture for that.

Tongues is not meant to fight the devil. It's a heavenly language addressed to God. You're speaking mysteries to God when you pray in tongues. Tongues has nothing to do with the devil. In fact, he can't even understand tongues!

People need to wake up and stop playing spiritual video or Nintendo games. That kind of thing grieves the Holy Spirit.

Of course, there is such a thing as genuine intercession by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit takes over in our bellies and prays through us the perfect will of God for a situation.

But intercession is not this fleshly stuff that people stir up, working themselves into a frenzy. Give me a break! Don't tell me that's the Holy Spirit:

When the Holy Spirit comes in manifestation, you will speak in tongues—but you will speak as He gives you the utterance. Tongues will bubble out of your belly like a mighty river of living water, bringing edification to you and lifting you up into the heavenlies.

This is the rest wherewith He will cause the weary to rest (Isaiah 28:12; Hebrews 3 and 4): Praying in the Holy Ghost, building yourself up on your most holy faith (Jude 20).

When we allow the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, to come into our midst and minister and do what He does best, people will be saved and sick bodies will be healed without any effort on the part of the preacher.

More Than Laughter

Do you know what is the most frightening thing to me? It's the fact that some people come into our meetings and think that the Holy Spirit is laughter. That really bothers me, but I understand why Jesus said, "The poor you have with you always." I guess that means the flakes we'll have with us always.

No, the Holy Spirit is not laughter, but when He comes, you'll get the laughter and the joy. When He comes, you'll get the tongues. But He's not the tongues. It's like the man who delivers your newspaper to your house: He's not the newspaper.

Chapter 3

Divers Manifestations

When the hand of God moves in a service, there will be different, divers manifestations of His power. This creates a problem for many people. They cannot accept what God is doing because they have their own concept of who God the Holy Spirit is and how He should move.

When you've encountered Him—when you've caught a glimpse of the glory of God; when you've been over into the realm of the supernatural and seen what God can do—you'll realize we have only been touching the tip of the iceberg.

We're just beginning to see what God will do. We're coming to a time when whole cities will be shaken with the glory and power of God, and the glory of God will be manifested as it has never been seen before.

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Acts 2:1

If you want the Holy Ghost to come and manifest Himself, you've got to get in one mind, with one goal,

one vision, and one purpose.

The Holy Ghost can't manifest where there is strife and division, where all the works of the flesh are exhibited, or where people are motivated by ambition or where they are fighting. That's why the Holy Spirit cannot visit the Church in this day and hour the way He wants to.

Ministers, for example, would rather bad-mouth and criticize each other than come together and work for the kingdom of God. They'd rather build their own kingdom. But you see, the Spirit of God is into building only one kingdom: the kingdom of God.

Suddenly, the Holy Spirit Manifests

Acts 2:2 says that when they were together with one accord in one place, suddenly.... That's something I like about the Holy Spirit: One minute He's not manifested, and the next minute He is! And, oh how wonderful it is when He suddenly begins to move by His power.

The verse says, "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind...." The Holy Spirit is not wind, but you can liken Him to wind.

Imagine being in the Upper Room and:

...suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

Acts 2:2

Then, as if that weren't enough:

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost....

Acts 2:3,4 Total Immersion in the Spirit

These verses aren't referring to a little dab, a little dose, a little splash, or a little sprinkling of the Holy Ghost. They're referring to total immersion in the Holy Ghost, an immersion that means your whole body, from your toes to the top of your head, is filled with the Holy Spirit!

After this kind of immersion, you are more aware of the Holy Spirit than you are of friends, neighbors, loved ones, or natural surroundings. You are consumed by God. That's what it means to be filled with the new wine of the Spirit: to be drunk, inebriated, and intoxicated with His presence.

The storms of life may come, but they won't affect you. Temptations will fall by the wayside. You will walk through attacks of the enemy untouched and unscathed, because when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you're more aware of God than you are of the devil.

You will just march through. The waters have to part, and you will go through on dry ground. God can furnish a table for you in the wilderness, and He can make a way for you where there is no way.

When you are full of the Holy Spirit, you will be an oasis in a dry and thirsty land. You will be made a blessing to many, and your life will be a living epistle that will touch others.

When you are full of the Holy Spirit, a boldness like you have never known before will come into your life. You will become so tenacious, you will look the devil square in the eye and tell him, "Get out of my way!" And you will march right on through and see the work of God be done.

When you are full of the Holy Spirit, your heart will be free from all the snares of the enemy. For example, you can't have unforgiveness in your heart and be full of the Holy Spirit. You can't have pride and stay full of the Holy Spirit. You can't have sin in your heart or bitterness toward others and stay full of the Holy Spirit.

When you are full of the Holy Spirit, He'll "set your feet a-dancin'," as the song says. There will be a spring in your step. Joy will overflow from your life. Everywhere you go, you will be touching people. Lives will be changed, and bodies will be healed.

Prophecy

For the Spirit of God in this day and this hour does seek out people—those that are hungry, those that are thirsty—that would say unto Him, "O God, fill us. Fill us with your glory. Fill us with your power. Fill every vessel. Fill our hearts."

And, oh, He would come and fill you, and He will begin to use you and flow through you to touch the lives of others round about you.

Enter into the things of God. Drink at the fountain. Drink at the river. Drink at the well. For it matters not the things that shall come upon the earth in these last days. It matters not that men's hearts have failed them for the fear of the things that will come in these last days.

But those that are filled with the Holy Ghost, those that are filled with the new wine, those that are filled with His presence and power, shall not be affected by the plans of the enemy.

They shall march through, and they shall walk even like the priests of old when they came down to the river and their feet touched the ground. The moment they touched the water, they walked through on dry ground, for God made a way for them.

They shall be like the prophet Elijah: When fire shall come down from heaven, they shall not be afraid of the prophets of Baal.

Mighty signs and wonders shall be done. Great and glorious things shall begin to be made manifest. So desire that you be filled with the new wine, the Spirit of God, and enter into the realm of the supernatural. For this is the day and the hour of the outpouring of the Spirit of God.

Chapter 4

"Noised Abroad”

On the Day of Pentecost, when they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, the event was "noised abroad" in Jerusalem among the devout Jews "out of every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5,6).

Whenever the Holy Spirit begins to move, it begins to be "noised abroad." People get on the telephone and call their friends: "Did you hear what God's doing?" But the noise is not always favorable.

How To Be Unpopular

Whenever the noise of a stirring and moving of the Spirit begins, so does persecution. Don't think that when the Holy Spirit starts moving, people are going to love you. They'll say you're off the wall. They'll accuse you of being a cult. They'll want to kill you. That's how you know you're in the flow! When you read the Book of Acts, you'll find this is so.

When you're full of the Holy Spirit, the devil's going to hate it. He hated Paul's ministry. When Paul went to different cities and ministered by the Spirit of God, people sought to kill him. Once he had to escape in a basket that was let down over a city wall. Another time, he was stoned and left for dead. Paul was beaten and suffered many other things for the Gospel's sake.

You'll suffer, too. Some Christians, some Pharisees, some Sadducees, some Wouldn't Sees, and some Couldn't Sees are not going to enjoy the fact that there are people like you who are full of the Holy Spirit!

Did you know that when you're full of the Holy Spirit, your very presence as you walk into a room will convict people of sin in their life?

This happened to Smith Wigglesworth all the time. He didn't have to say a word. He didn't wear a T-shirt that said, "Honk If You Love Jesus!" and he didn't wear a decal on his forehead. He just walked into railway cars and other public places and people would fall on their knees and say, "Pray for us! Pray for us! You convict us of our sins." This was because of the glory of God that rested on Wigglesworth's life.

God wants us to be filled to overflowing with His glory!

A Time To Marvel

When the multitude in Jerusalem heard the believers speak in tongues, the Bible tells us that they were confused and amazed, and they marveled. They asked each other, "What does this mean?"

When the Holy Spirit begins to move, you'll not be able to work it out with your natural mind.

"Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine" (Acts 2:13). Why did they think the believers were drunk? Because they must have acted like drunk people.

Peter stood up and preached a sermon to the multitude, explaining what was happening. He said, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." For once, Peter started getting something right. That in itself should have been a sign that it really was the Holy Ghost! Peter said:

For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy....

Acts 2:15-17

We're in the last of the last days, glory to God! The last days started when the Church was born with great power on the Day of Pentecost. First, 120 believers were hit. They went out into the streets and 3,000 were added to the Church as a result of Peter's sermon. Then their number kept multiplying quickly as "...the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47).

Awesome Displays of Power

As you read through the Book of Acts, you'll find there were awesome displays of the glory of God in the Early Church. Once, during an offering, Brother Ananias lied to Peter about the amount he was giving, and he dropped dead in the church. They carried him out and buried him. Three hours later, the same thing happened to his wife, Sapphira.

It was a long service! You'll find that when the Holy Spirit starts moving, you won't have any more of those "in by 10 out by 11" services, where you sing three hymns and three "hers," take up the offering, and preach from Encyclopedia Britannica and Reader's Digest.

No, you'll begin to have services that last three, four, and five hours. When the Holy Spirit begins to move, people won't be bored; they'll be excited! They'll be sitting on the edge of their chairs.

Even if it's 11 o'clock at night, no one will want to go home, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is joy.

The Bible says that the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former house (Haggai 2:9). However, the flesh will always destroy the move of God and hinder Him from moving if it gets the upper hand. So we must get the flesh out of the way and allow the Spirit of God to move.

Prophecy

For this is the day and the hour that I will begin to reveal Myself, saith the Lord; and the Holy Spirit shall become a reality to my Church once again.

And even as the Early Church walked in great power, great authority, and great and mighty signs and wonders, yea, the day of signs and wonders is not over, but they shall come back in manifestation in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For men and women of God shall be raised up, and they shall walk in boldness, and they shall see the glory of God that has come.

And the cloud of God shall be seen in meetings. It will be said that angels were seen walking up and down the aisles. It will be said that a light shone, and the glory of God was made manifest. And there shall be no lack of the manifestation of the Spirit of God. For these are the days of the outpouring of the Spirit of God.

The end of all things is at hand, and the work that must be done must be done quickly. So think not with the natural mind. Do not try to understand and conceive with your natural mind that which I am doing, but allow my Spirit to enter into your heart and life and burn that which comes from heaven into your life.

You shall rise up in boldness, and you shall be counted among those that shall be used in a powerful way in these last days. Rise up. Lay aside the things of the natural. Lay aside the things of tradition.

For many shall say, "Oh, they've gone overboard. They've gone into excess." But, oh, enter into the things of God—enter into the realm of the Spirit of God—for great and mighty things shall be done, saith the Lord.

Chapter 5

Turning the Holy Ghost Loose

If we don't acknowledge the Person of the Holy Spirit, we won't know how to pray properly, according to the will of God, and we won't understand the Bible fully.

Jesus said He would never leave us nor forsake us. He promised He would send us a Comforter. Wherever we go, He goes. We shouldn't ignore Him, yet many disregard His promptings and leadings.

Sometimes the Spirit of God begins to pull or lead us to pray for someone, and we rudely push Him away. We say, "No, I can't do that. No. I just can't do that."

As a consequence, we wander through life attempting to be victorious and do battle in the flesh.

We don't acknowledge the Person of the Holy Spirit. In our churches, we push Him out of the way. We don't want Him to move in our midst!

"Oh, I pray that nothing strange happens tonight, because the mayor's coming to church. Holy Spirit, don't You move tonight." We bind Him. We "tie His hands," as it were, and put Him in a box.

God Won't Stay in Your Box

One thing we need to realize about the Holy Spirit is that He's a colorful Person. God is a God of diversity, and you can never put Him in a box and expect Him to remain there, waiting to do your bidding. No, He will pop out of your little box and do what He wants to do, when and where He wants to do it!

People come into our meetings and look at the laughter and the people getting drunk in the Spirit, and they run out the door saying, "Oh, that's of the devil!"

Give me a break! If that was of the devil, it would be in every night club and beer joint in town.

People come to me and ask, "Brother Rodney, why aren't these manifestations commonplace in other ministries?"

I have to tell them, "Because other ministries would not allow this to happen. But I told the Holy Ghost He can do whatever He wants to."

Do I understand everything about it? No, and I don't need to understand everything about it. All I know is, I've been in enough dead meetings to sink the Titanic, and I made a decision: I don't ever want to be in another dead meeting!

A Word to Skeptics

Those who are skeptical about the move of God and do not understand it may complain, "There seems to be no order in these meetings."

If you're talking about the order of the graveyard, no, there's no order of the graveyard.

Others may argue, "But Brother Rodney, the spirit of the prophet is subject unto the prophet. Surely these people could be quiet and not make so much noise!"

True, true, the Scripture does say that the spirit of the prophet is subject unto the prophet, but I want you to realize this: These people are not prophets, and they are not prophesying!

This is an outpouring of the Spirit of God like the outpouring that began on the Day of Pentecost, when the fire fell and the glory of God began to descend upon people. This is not a work of man; it is a work of the Spirit of God, and it brings about a change in people's lives.

The Dead Will Be Raised

Furthermore, this is just the beginning of the mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost that will come in this day and hour. If you can't take this, pray tell me how you are going to take it when the dead are raised?

How are you going to take it when God begins to translate people? If God translated some of you from one city to another, you'd scream all the way to your destination. And when you arrived, they'd all get saved just by taking one look at you.

We must acknowledge the Holy Spirit as a Person, depend on Him, and allow Him to come and do whatever He wants to do in our midst. I thank God when He begins to move in a meeting! It is so wonderful and glorious!

The Devil's Limitations

God is in control. He knows everything about this earth. He is not worrying about how He's going to make it. God is God. His hand is not short that it cannot save. His ear is not deaf that He cannot hear. He's still a God who is mighty to save, mighty to heal, and mighty to deliver. He has no limitations.

Remember this: The devil is not the Creator. He is a creation and, as such, he has limitations. The devil has a beginning and an ending—but God is the Beginning and the Ending.

I've got good news for you: The devil is not omnipresent. He's in one place at one time, walking to and fro throughout the earth, because he doesn't have enough money to buy a motorcar!

God is omnipresent. That means He is everywhere. You can go to the highest star and the lowest hell, and God is there.

God is omniscient. That means He knows everything. He knows how many hairs there are on your head. God knows you now, and He knew you before you were born. He knows your coming in and your going out.

God is omnipotent. That means He is all-powerful. Don't talk about any other powers in the universe; they're defeated. Jesus said, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:18).

Jesus also taught, "...rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).

Jesus told His disciples, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). Then He sent them out to proclaim the Gospel, and He delegated His power to them.

Jesus said, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you..." (Acts 1:8). That's why they received power from on high—the power of the Holy Spirit—on the Day of Pentecost.

We must be careful that we don't grieve the Holy Spirit by the things we do and say and by our attitude. If we're ashamed of the Holy Spirit, He will be ashamed of us.

I'm not ashamed of the Holy Spirit!

Sermon Outline:

The Reality of the Person of the Holy Spirit

Foundation Scripture—Acts 1:8

1.    Who or what is the Holy Spirit?

a.    He is the third Person of the Godhead.

b.    He is a Person not a language and/or an experience.

2.    The move of the Holy Spirit

a.    The glory of the latter house—greater.

b.    The time has come to allow the Holy Spirit to have His way and do what He wants to do without dictating to Him.

c.    The Holy Spirit is: Omnipresent Omniscient Omnipotent

d.    God is 3 in 1 and 1 in 3: Father Son Holy Spirit

e.    The Father is in Heaven; Jesus is at His right hand; the Holy Spirit is on Earth.

f.    Need to develop an intimate relationship with Him. He's the One called alongside to help—the paraclete.

3.    The Holy Spirit and revival

a.    1800's—Charles Finney

b.    The Welsh revival of 1904

c.    The Azusa revival of 1906

d.    The coming revival

4.    Symbols of the Holy Spirit

a.    Wind—John 3:8

b.    Water (rain)—John 7:37-39

c.    Fire—Matthew 3:11

d.    Dove—Mark 1:10

e.    Oil—Zechariah 4:1-14

f.    Wine—Ephesians 5:18-19

Revival Ministries International is a ministry that travels across denominational boundaries and geographical borders to fulfill what the Lord had called it to do—to stir up the churches, telling them to get ready for the coming revival.

In December 1987, Rodney M. Howard-Browne, along with his wife Adonica, and their three children, Kirsten, Kelly and Kenneth moved to the United States to fulfill what the Lord had told Rodney to do in a word of prophecy. The Lord said, "As America has sown missionaries over the last 200 years, I am going to raise up people from other nations to come to the United States of America" and He also said that He was sending a mighty revival to America.

Rodney and his family, have been traveling as missionaries across the world, ministering an average of over 550 meetings a year in North America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Revivals last from one to four weeks at a time and are reminiscent of revivals of the past, with unusual and powerful demonstrations of the Holy Spirit in every meeting. Salvations, rededications, water baptisms and baptisms in the Holy Spirit are often accompanied by miracles, signs and wonders.

Recognizing the Holy Spirit

One of the greatest problems in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ today is that God's people do not have a greater revelation of the reality of the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Because of this, much of the ministry that is being done is in the flesh; much of the worship that is being done is in the flesh; and much of the preaching that is being done is in the flesh.

To worship without the Holy Spirit is a waste of time; to pray without Him is a waste of time; and to read the Bible without Him is a waste of time. In fact, to do anything before God without the Person of the Holy Spirit is nothing more than dead works!

—Rodney M. Howard-Browne

Table of Contents

1 Recognizing the Holy Spirit

2 The Comforter Has Come

3 Divers Manifestations

4 "Noised Abroad"

5 Turning the Holy Ghost Loose

Sermon Outline: